


Catch the secret with your lips

by milleandra



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: First Kiss, High School, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-09-12 16:52:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9081241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/milleandra/pseuds/milleandra
Summary: “Levi, have you ever kissed anyone?”The constant scratch of pen on the paper stopped abruptly. Eren looked up from the bed to Levi, sitting by the desk, the image of diligence itself, completely focused on his homework. The sound resumed, Levi’s fingers gripping the pen firmly.





	1. Chapter 1

“Levi, have you ever kissed anyone?”

The constant scratch of pen on the paper stopped abruptly. Eren looked up from the bed to Levi, sitting by the desk, the image of diligence itself, completely focused on his homework. The sound resumed, Levi’s fingers gripping the pen firmly.

“You’re my best friend, Eren, you would have known if I did.” Eren rolled on the bed to be able to see Levi better. For all of his feigned nonchalance, Eren knew Levi well enough to be able to tell what he was actually thinking. Little things, like nervous clench of a fist, tendency to hunch on himself when he felt uncomfortable, barely visible blush when he was embarrassed… The blush that he could see now, dusting Levi’s cheeks. Eren wondered many times how was it possible, for someone with such pale skin to be able to hide his blushing like some damn ninja.

“But isn’t Erwin your best friend, Levi?” Eren fluttered his lashes, doing his best impression of puppy in need of reassurance. Levi sighed, sitting straight in his chair, homework forgotten for now.

“You know you’re both my best friends, you dumbass.” Of course Eren knew. Erwin and Levi were both year older, sharing a majority of classes, while Eren, as a sophomore, tended to spend majority of his time at school with Mikasa and Armin. That was also the reason Levi allowed Eren to hang out at his place pretty much anytime he wanted, offering him his notes and help with more difficult subjects. Also, a bed that Eren was free to roll in, until Levi was finished with his work. That was a privilege on itself, as Eren was the only person allowed to do that (maybe Levi let him do it, because he knew Eren would always make the bed after himself, no matter what pillow fort-like construction he built, it was always back to pristine condition).

Eren fell on his back with a dramatic sigh.

“And here I thought that high school is all about parties and make-outs. I was fooled!” Eren felt the bed dipping as Levi sat beside him. “Or maybe we’re just a bunch of nerds and don’t hang out with the cool kids.” Eren cracked one eye open to chance a look at Levi.

Yeah, there it was - corner of his lips slightly upturned. Suppressing a smile.

“You might have mistaken high school with college.” Levi said in a seemingly deadpan voice, but Eren could easily tell he was amused.

“We should train then, don’t you think?” Eren got up on his elbows, flashing a smile. Levi raised an eyebrow, unsure of what he meant.

“We should train before we have our first kiss!” Eren exclaimed as if he was saying something completely obvious. “Or do you want to embarrass yourself in front of your date?” Eren waggled eyebrows in a silly way, which earned him a punch to the shoulder and Levi’s stiffled laugh.

“Training for first kiss would make it our first kiss, you idiot.” Levi was still laughing and Eren didn’t want it to stop. Having usually closed-off Levi so open and amused made him feel special… a privilege of a best friend, you could say?

“Is that a no?” Eren asked, cocking his head, finally sitting up.

Levi stopped laughing, as if what Eren was really saying suddenly sunk in. Something wary in his eyes, calculating whether Eren was joking or being serious.

“I wouldn’t mind sharing my first kiss with you.” Eren whispered, letting Levi know that it wasn’t some stupid prank. All of the light atmosphere disappeared with those words and for a second Levi looked like he’d been punched. His eyes widened in surprise, eyelashes fluttering as he looked down to Eren’s lips. Eren covered one of his hands, clenched in a fist (he’s nervous), with his own, rubbing little circles with his thumb, reassuring him. Slow touches, a hand on Levi’s shoulder, a nudge, a push and before they knew it, Levi was close, so incredibly close, they were practically breathing into each other’s mouths, yet still, their lips didn’t touch.

Eren was good at reading Levi from afar, but from such a distance it was even easier. He could feel slight tremor, Levi’s uneven breathing - he wanted, but he was afraid. Not of an experience (or lack of it), first or not, it was just a kiss; but of a shift in their relationship. Eren could feel that Levi was on a precipice and he wasn’t sure he was ready to jump.

So he took the leap for him and pressed their lips together. Just a chaste kiss, but somehow the feel of Levi’s chapped lips on his own made something in his chest swell. He was hyper-aware of body that he was holding in an embrace, of warmth spreading everywhere.

He pulled back just to look at Levi’s face. He’d never seen him… always reserved Levi, his face flushed hard and eyes glazed, unfocused. He could feel Levi’s fingers, not nervously clenched into fists, but desperately holding onto Eren’s clothes.

When Eren moved again, Levi expected another kiss, but Eren just kept him close, hiding his face into Levi’s neck.

He didn’t let go until he could feel Levi shivered no longer.


	2. Chapter 2

Levi was sitting on his bag, all of his focus on not letting sand get into his clothes. Ok, so maybe not all - he kept glimpsing in the direction of the rock formation, despite the wind still able to hear Eren and Hange’s voices as they talked with enthusiasm over Armin’s head.

Oh, he hated sand. It was passable in summer, when you could rinse it off in the beach shower, but now, at the beginning of autumn, he simply couldn’t fathom how he agreed to this escapade…

He heard Eren’s laugh and sighed deeply. Yeah. He was here because Eren asked him to. He and Armin had a project about marine biology to do, so of course Levi didn’t refuse when Eren wanted to contact Hange via him. She was brilliant when it came to all science-related subjects and infamous for it (and also her crazy pranks she was often pulling off - for science). If Eren wanted to meet Levi’s friend for a school project, he was more than happy to help.

He just couldn’t fathom how he ended up agreeing to accompany them all to the beach during the windy Saturday afternoon with the sky darkening dangerously and the threat of the rain pretty obvious in the air. He endured an impromptu picnic without a blanket (unsanitary!), two hours of their excited science chatter in the background (why the majority of his friends were such nerds?), just slowly working through his copy of Moby Dick until the dark clouds rolled over their heads, stealing the majority of sunlight. When the first drop of the rain landed on Levi’s nose, he called quits.

He stood up, brushing his bag off, ready to call after Eren - surprised to see him already nearing him, his arms stretched to the sides and for a second Levi’s heart started to beat faster, imagining Eren running up to him and drawing those long arms around him in a hug–

But no, Eren was just shrugging his jacket off… and then used it as an umbrella, putting it over Levi’s head to shield him from the rain that was slowly but steadily growing in strength.

“Levi, c'mon, we gotta get out of here before we’re drenched!” Eren looked unfazed by the fact that his jacket was mainly sheltering Levi, the raindrops and wind turning his mop of unruly hair into an even bigger mess than usual. Levi couldn’t bear it.

“What about Armin and Hange?” he protested weakly, despite obediently following Eren and his made-up umbrella.

“Armin was the only one smart enough to check the weather forecast and came prepared. He lives in the same direction as Hange, so they’ll go back together.” Eren replied smoothly, looking down to Levi. “That leaves just the two of us.” he added, waggling his eyebrows. Levi whacked him on the shoulder, not able to hold Eren’s gaze.

Levi realised he had a problem with doing that ever since Monday, when their usual banter ended up with Eren kissing him.

He was terrified, because he was too much of a coward to properly talk to Eren about it. So he still wasn’t sure if his best friend actually had some kind of feelings for him and his pathetic two years of pining weren’t unrequited… Or Eren did it on a whim, out of some weird feeling of platonic closeness they shared?

Levi shook his head - now wasn’t time for that. At this rate, Eren will be completely soaked within minutes and probably sick by the end of the day. He put an arm around Eren’s waist to bring him closer and shuffle them in the direction of the beach shed that served as a cafe in summer, but was now closed. When they were safely underneath it’s roof, he pushed Eren to sit on the rickety, old bench and took his handkerchief out of the bag to dab at the younger boy’s face and neck.

“You should take care of yourself before you start to worry about others…” focused on wiping his friend’s face, Levi muttered barely-audible, more to himself than to him, but Eren’s soft smile made it obvious that he heard it. Then Eren wrapped his fingers around Levi’s wrist to pull his hand down and before he could realise what was happening, that soft smile and soft lips were against Levi’s cheek, the contact as delicate as a brush of butterfly’s wings.

“Thank you, Levi.” those words were a warm breath against the shell of his ear and Levi’s heart was about to burst. The pads of Eren’s fingers were grounding him, drawing small circles on his skin and all Levi could think about was how easy would it be to move his head to the side, to put his own lips against Eren’s cheek, slip fingers into those unruly locks, stole breath out of Eren’s lungs along with an answer to the question that has plagued his mind for two years already…

But he was too much of a coward to do that.


	3. Chapter 3

His eyes fluttered open and the first thing he saw was Levi - sitting on the very edge of his bed, looking as if he was caught red-handed.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.” Levi looked away quickly. “You got sick because of me, so I figured the least I could do is bring you the notes and fill you up on what you missed in classes. But maybe it’d be better for you to just sleep…”

Before Levi could get up, Eren put a hand over his clenched fist, wordlessly trying to keep him from fleeing. He started drawing little circles with his thumb on Levi’s skin - a habit he picked up that seemed to calm his friend down, but at this point it was also something that relaxed Eren as well.

Even though Levi was sitting fairly far away from him, he could see the way his body turned from a tightly wound string to a relaxed slope of shoulders and feel Levi’s fist unclenching underneath his fingers.

“I’m not really sick, you know? I was a little feverish yesterday, but I feel fine already.” Levi didn’t look convinced, even with Eren smiling broadly at him. “Me staying home today is more of Mom fussing over me than anything else, seriously.”

“Fussing over others seems to be a thing for Yeagers, hm?” Levi’s voice is a deadpan, but there’s a glint of humor in his eyes. “Still, I feel bad.” Levi’s response is more of a deep sigh and Eren could see that bags under his friend’s eyes are even more prominent than usual. If somebody needed some extra sleep, it was probably Levi, not him.

“Aww, you were worried about me?” Eren cocked his head, his eyes twinkling with mirth that made Levi unable to look away. Didn’t stop him from swatting at Eren’s hand though.

“It’s my fault you missed school, so I’d call it remorse rather than worry.” Eren feigned indignation made the corners of his mouth lift in a small smile.

Eren let out an exaggerated sigh. “So you bringing me the notes is just a way to appease your guilty conscience. What a terrible friend you are, Levi!” two of Eren’s fingers were making a slow trek on the blanket, getting nearer and nearer to Levi. “But it is not enough to appease me.” his fingers got on top of Levi’s hand and then wrapped around his wrist and tugged him forward.

“Eren.” if Eren didn’t know Levi well, the way he just called his name would certainly scare him shitless. “Are you seriously thinking about pulling me into your germ-infested bed?”

“It’s not-!” Eren denied, offended, but quickly calmed down before starting anew. “The sheets were changed yesterday. How is that any different from me rolling on your bed whenever I’m over at your place?”

And he could practically see the thougths racing in Levi’s head, but before Levi could voice them, he pulled on his wrist again, urging him to just lie down next to him. Levi followed, a little rigidly, his body tense - something that happened rarely while it was just the two of them.

Eren felt guilty. Levi said he was sorry, but honestly, Eren thought it was him who should apologise. Not just for asking Levi to accompany them to the beach, which ended with them both drenched in the rain - he wanted to apologise for his friend’s worry, for his skin that was paler than usual, for tired eyes. For his fleeting gaze, tension and sense of uncertainty which hang in the air since last Monday, when Eren stupidly stole Levi’s first kiss.

He shouldn’t have. He shouldn’t, because he wanted to stole second, third, fifteenth. Every one of them.

He shouldn’t have, because that first one opened the dam and Eren wasn’t able to stop the flood, the feelings that seemed nothing but a dim buzzing in the back of his brain became an incessant uproar - the thudding of his heart filling his ears and deafening everything that wasn’t _Levi_.

He fell in love with his best friend and wasn’t sure when and how it happened.

Maybe he should just tell him.

Risk their close friendship for a thousand potential kisses and Levi relaxing into his arms.

He extended his hand, lightly tracing Levi’s cheek with his fingers, watching him unconsciously lean into the touch.

Barely opened his mouth and let the secret slip out, whispered between the sheets.

Levi’s eyes widened, reminding Eren of cloudy skies, of the way stray droplet of the rain hang onto his dark eyelashes. He could feel a slight trembling of Levi’s jaw where his fingers still lingered on his face. Waited a small eternity before withdrawing his hand–

Only for it to be caught in Levi’s tight, unforgiving grip, determination gleaming in his eyes as this time it was him stealing a kiss, catching the secret with his lips and returning it to Eren’s mouth to share between them.


End file.
